Abstract [en]

Stress has been found to occur in the teaching profession. Stress is connected with conflicts in the psychosocial work environment. The purpose of the study was to investigate if conflict styles were related to the experience of stress. The study examined which style that was most and least frequent, and university teachers perceived stress levels. A further aim was to examine whether stress and conflict styles were related to gender and age. The participants were 92 full-time teachers (52 women) at University West. For the data collection the Perceived Stress Scale and Thomas - Kilmann Conflict Mode Instruments were used among with background questions regarding gender, age and institutional belonging. The results showed the competing style to be least frequent and that teachers' perceived stress level was considered to be relatively low. The results also showed a weak positive non-significant correlation between stress and the two styles; collaboration and avoidance. The relationship between stress and the avoidance style, and between stress and the collaborative style, were discussed to be perceived as more stressful since both styles try to ensure both needs in a conflict. The study found that stress and the competing style tended to be less frequent and less prevalent among older teachers, which were discussed to be positive since it indicates that teachers do not look to meet their own needs in front of their students. A critical approach should be use with these results, since the internal consistency regarding conflict management styles, were difficult to assess